Firm to supply LNG by trucks to industries, users
Greenville Oil and Gas Nigeria Ltd will soon commence domestic supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from its mini-plant by trucks to end users, the first of such initiative in Nigeria.
This followed the signing of the gas supply agreement to the Greenville LNG facility between NNPC/ Total Exploration and Production Nigeria (TEPNG) Joint Venture (JV), the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN) and Greenville.
As part of the agreement signed on Tuesday in Abuja, NNPC/Total JV will supply natural gas from its oil field in Rivers State to the Greenville LNG plant at Rumuji, in the state.
Greenville will liquefy and then transport the gas by road with specialized LNG trucks to customers mostly industries and companies not served by existing pipelines across the country.
While gas supply by NNPC/Total to the over $500 million Greenville facility will commence soon, the plant itself is ready to commence operations before the end of the year, officials said at the signing supervised by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
LNG which is a type of natural gas that has been cooled/liquefied can be used for electricity generation, as fuel in cars as well as for domestic purposes.
Liquefying natural gas makes it easier to transport the gas over long distances when pipeline transport is not feasible.
Greenville’s chairman Eddie Van Den Broeke said at the signing that the company will also introduce the first 100 per cent LNG-fueled trucks in Africa with a fleet of 700 that will transport the gas over 1000km across the country.
The company is also constructing retail stations and secondary storage facilities across the nation for logistics support.
Kachikwu, while speaking at the signing, said the agreement would allow the movement of gas across the country especially in the absence of adequate pipeline network.
Managing Director of GACN, Engr. Morgan Okwoche, said the agreement will usher in the era of virtual pipelines in Nigeria where areas that were not easily accessible by the traditional pipelines can now be reached for power generation.